


Evil at Dawn

by Lapis_Album



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Borgin and Burkes (Harry Potter), Dumbledore has PTSD, Gen, Great Wizarding War, Hogwarts, Knights of Walpurgis, Mentor Albus Dumbledore, Nurmengard Castle (Harry Potter), Post-War, Protégé Tom Riddle, Psychology
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-30
Updated: 2021-01-30
Packaged: 2021-03-16 00:35:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,573
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29073399
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lapis_Album/pseuds/Lapis_Album
Summary: In 1946, after returning from Griendelwalds trial, haunted and shaken from the war, Dumbledore longs for tranquility and quite academic life at Hogwarts. One night however he makes an unexpected encounter with a former student
Relationships: Albus Dumbledore & Tom Riddle, Albus Dumbledore & Tom Riddle | Voldemort
Comments: 1
Kudos: 7





	Evil at Dawn

THE DAILY PROPHET

**THE NURMENGARD TRIALS BEGIN**

_**22 November 1945 Held by the Magical governments involved in the GWW, with the International Confederation of Wizards acting as intermediary as well as representing the international wizarding law, the trials open today at the Court of the MoM in Vienna.** _

_**Pictures of the 16 prominent members and leaders of The Alliance being prosecuted while otherwise currently residing in the infamous Nurmengard Prison can be found on page 6.** _

_**Gellert Grindelward, while being held in isolation under high security, still hasn’t given a** _

_**statement about his involvement in the camps. More on this on page 8.** _

_**A recap of the legendary dual between him and Professor Albus Dumbledore can be found on page 10.** _

_**Professor Dumbledore will be attending the trials in his position as member of the International Confederation of Wizards and witness to the war. He is expected to give a speech on the 23th November.** _

_**It is certainly not too far stretched to already call this the greatest trial to be held in wizarding history ...** _

**October 1946**

Rain was dropping fast and load on the stone path, dumbing the sound of an apparition. Albus Dumbledore appeared on Diagon Alley. Casting a charm to shield himself from the rain he proceed to walk along the main street. It was Friday afternoon and he was about to meet his friend Elphias Dodge at the Leaky Caldron to then proceed together in muggle London to watch a ﬁlm. Their common friend Griselda Marchbanks marveled over the enormous achievements muggles had done in this sector after having watched an animated cartoon while on her stay in the US. Naturally, Albus and Elias were more than a little curious. Now ﬁlms are in color too. After some delays due to their busy schedules, they ﬁnally had agreed an a date. 

  
For his little excursion in muggle London he had decided to wear a simple dark grey suit with a long plaid wool coat. He pulled his scarf over his mouth as a cold wind breath came shooting over from an alley. London was not as chilly as the grounds at Hogwarts but this winter promised to be an icy one. The dropping temperatures surely not helping a country who was now recovering from a war.

  
Since he was on time, he took some time to take in his surroundings. He hasn’t seen the familiar sight of the old stone buildings and shops for quite some times. Years, he realized. Last time he had visited Diagon Alley was before his involvement in Sweden and France. It had been to look for some appropriate text books for his Alchemy Class and maybe some advanced books on other subjects. 

  
He stopped abruptly, his eyes widened in disbelieve at what he saw. He was standing before the cosy bookstore he has been thinking about, only that it wasn’t open with it’s window displaying many books coming from all over the world. It had been vandalized. Broken glass was lying on the window sill and on the ﬂoor inside. Most bookshelves were overturned or demolished. The books gone, probably stolen or taken elsewhere. Oddly enough, the fancy green leader armchair that was among the many shelves was still there and untouched. 

  
While Diagon Alley and other magical residences in London had remained mostly unscathed by the blitz due to powerful protective enchantments, disillusions and repelling Charms, other war adversities did not spare the wizarding population. A high rise in crime, severe hardships in economic terms and living conditions derived from a dragging war had caused dissatisfaction, anger and untruest within the population. Protective charms were still in use even though the war had ended, anti apparition wards were set after 7 pm to prevent thieving and rubbery. There were also ration on certain food goods. Like with the muggles, wizards also seemed more aﬄicted now than during the war by the economic decline of their country that was still recovering from the war.

  
Dumbledore felt a deep knot in his stomach. Shame. Guilt. He never had been aﬀected by all of this, of course, in the distant safety of Hogwarts. He hadn’t realized the atrocious verity reading it just in the papers. Or had he? 

  
He kept walking with a much faster pace now until he reached the Leaky Cauldron. Used to the sound of the load rain given his now dispirited disposition, he was surprised to hear load singing and music coming from within the pub and as he entered, he was met with the familiar smell of bier, old wood and various spices. The pub hasn't changed, dark and shabby but welcoming. A group of wizards were singing loudly around a table, one also playing the Harmonica. An Accordion was also playing in mid air near a wall. The pub seemed rather full. For a moment Dumbledore was taken aback by the jolly atmosphere, a sight so diﬀerent from what was outside in the street. He took oﬀ his glasses to clean them from the rain. 

  
„Professor!“

  
He looked up. Tom, the landlord of the Leaky Cauldron, moved past some other guests to greet him. He was wearing his usual dark robes with a bar apron. His cheeks were red and full, probably from milling around the pub. This familiar picture of him invoked in Dumbledore a strong sense of normality. 

  
„ It’s been a while! I was hoping you might come by sometime. Of course, you were quite busy. I read it all in the papers! Let me congratulate you-“  
He shocked Dumbledores hand with such enthusiastic fervent that his spectacle glasses slided down his nose as he just has put them back on.

  
„ Well done! Well done! “

  
Dumbledore managed a small smile in response. A couple of guests who had noticed them now gave them curious looks, others were keenly whispering, even pointing in their direction. 

  
„That reminds me!“ Tom spoke overly excited while still holding Dumbledores hand “ You just came back from Austria, yes?“ 

  
„Indeed.“ nodded Dumbledore “ In September, for the start of the new school year.“ 

  
„ Very well! Professor, let me treat you then to a nice, British meal. Nothing can beat our kitchen in old fashioned cuisine.“ He gestured with one hand proudly towards the kitchen. 

  
„ Tom, I´m afraid I have to decline your kind oﬀer. I´m meeting Elphias here and we are not staying for too long.“ Dumbledore took the moment to look around. „ He is not here yet, by any chance?“ 

  
The landlord shock his head„ No, and the pub is rather full… I´m afraid you have to wait at the bar until a table gets free. That is if you don’t mind-“ 

  
„ Of course not.“ said Dumbledore.

  
„Follow me then. And of course, the drinks are on the house! The least I can do for Britains great war hero!“ Tom said, smiling warmly. Dumbledore feeled himself blush at the words. He still feeled slight discomfort being called that way. He followed the landlord at the bar counter and to his embarrassment, came to shake more hands of similar enthusiastic and sometimes not too sober customers, all congratulating and praising. At last, he took the seat he was oﬀered gratefully near the beer taps on the bar counter. 

  
„ I´ll have a sherry then, please“ Said Dumbledore as he unbuttoned his coat and sat down, feeling a bit overwhelmed but also curiously taking down his surrounding. He always enjoyed the role of the silent spectator in a lively crowd.

  
„ Of course, Professor.“ Tom said, casting a nonverbal spell and soon enough a glass of sherry with ice and lemon slices appeared in front of Dumbledore. He smiled before returning to attend to another customer. 

  
After taking a sip of his drink, Dumbledore noticed a book on his right and that apparently his sitting neighbor seemed engrossed reading it. With the ﬁlling crowd and load noises he had at ﬁrst not noticed the quiet presence next to him. But now he would say it rather stuck out. He put down his glass and leaned on the side to curiosity peak on the lecture. His eyes slightly widened in interest as he recognized it as an academic hardback, probably in the ﬁeld of Arithmancy. Having now satisﬁed his snoopiness he was about to turn back and give his neighbor some space, but then stopped and blinked, ﬁrst in confusion than in surprise, upon recognizing the face. 

  
„Riddle..? What are you doing here?“ 

  
Dumbledore had not expected to casually meet any of his students. Or rather he was hoping not to. But accidentally meeting Tom Riddle had not seemed likely at all since the boy had seemed to make it a point in school to avoid crossings paths with him outside of classes and meals. He remembered last seeing Riddle at the N.E.W.T.s. exams. He couldn’t attend the graduation ceremony, being then heavily involved in post war regulatives. He was sure Riddle had passed everything with ﬂying colors. He probably was climbing up a career ladder at the Ministry now, like many Slytherins tended to do. He could imagine Riddle picking a political or a highly sought-after and inﬂuential career path. That surely would suit his egocentrism, he thought grimly. 

  
Riddle slowly looked up from his book and smiled politely. If he was annoyed for being interrupted he didn’t show it. „ Professor. I’m enjoying a drink oﬀ course.“ He nodded at the glass of brandy on his right, next to his book.   
Riddle was dressed in black. A white shirt collar was visible under a black pullover paired with black slacks and a long black coat. He looked a bit more mature than when he last had seen him in school, his cheeks now hollowed and his complexion paler. 

  
„ I see… Well then, how are you doing? What have you been up to after Hogwarts?“

  
There was a moment of tense silent. Riddle looked at him, gaze narrowing slightly as his eyes were ﬂickering back and forth between each of Dumbledores, as though trying to catch an ill intend. Dumbledore kept smiling pleasantly, inclining his head expectantly. He was secretly asking himself what on earth a response he would be getting to justify this reaction. After all, they both knew this was just superﬁcial, meaningless small talk. 

  
After a moment Riddle pressed this lips together „ I´m doing well.“ He said, then sipped at his drink „ I’m currently waiting for a client to arrive“.

  
„ Oh..?“ Dumbledore said, surprised and momently inapt at what to reply.

  
„How are things at Hogwarts?“ Riddle suddenly asked, his demeanor now seemly changed as he moved his seat a tad in Dumbledores direction and inclined his head slightly to one side, his expression impassive though his eyes were lit in interest. 

  
„ Well“ Dumbledore said, a bit bewildered but relieved on Riddle wanting to change the topic „ Nothing really changed since you left. Though I’m afraid I cannot oﬀer you a lot of details since I was abroad most of last year and only came back in September.“

  
Riddle nodded and seemed to contemplate on something. After a moment he asked, his face expressionless but his tone betraying curiosity. 

  
„How was—“

  
„Albus!“ 

  
Elphias Dodge was fondly patting him on the shoulder, smiling as Albus turned around to greet him. 

  
„I hope I didn’t make you wait too long. It took ridiculously long to obtain our permissions for the curfew.“ Dodge said apologetically „Some ministry workers there are slower than Flobberworms!“ 

  
Dumbledore grinned. He noted in mild amusement that his friend opted to wear a neutral black cloak and his round fox fur hat was so enormous that it made his head look oddly small. Elphias always fancied wearing eccentric hats. 

  
Dodge looked at his pocket watch. „ I’m afraid we have to go now. Griselda recommenced to arrive earlier in case there is a line.“ 

  
„Allright.“ Said Dumbledere and stood up. He turned to Riddle, wanting to inquire what he wanted to ask earlier and saw that Riddle has already turned and returned to his lecture. 

  
____________________________________________________________________________

  
 _„My brothers and sisters, it is time we make our utopia a reality. Each of us has to carry out their duty. Now we must unite. Now we must fight. To build a better world. To create a perfect society. For the greater good!“_ Gellert Griendelwald, speech given in Berlin in 1932

____________________________________________________________________________

„ Albus, is the Ministry here being creative or unrealistic in their choice of Portkey locations? “ Asked Dodge incredulously as he turned a ﬂashlight on, lighting the snowy path in front of them „ I mean, it’s somewhere in the middle of St. James’s Park where one is supposed to ﬁnd it without magic but with just muggle means. Of course thanks to the current curfew restrictions for noticeable magic in open muggle areas . And this… all of this while it’s pitch dark and freezing cold!“

  
„ Well, we might have some people with an interesting sense of humor working at the Portkey Oﬃce“ Dumbledore said bemused as he was holding his own ﬂashlight over a London city map. „ Just see this as a small and unexpected adventure.“

  
„ I would but I’m currently too busy freezing all over.“ Said Dodge „ Well, at least Berry Ocky Rot´s mulled wine will taste even better after this.“

  
„A light at the end of a tunnel.“ Mused Dumbledore, holding the map a little closer to his face “ Let´s see… this way here“ he pointed to the left at a crossing.

They walked in silence, ﬁnding solace in their companionship and the quietness of night. It was past ten pm. After having had supper at a small muggle pub near the cinema they had noticed on their way back that apparently very few people seemed to be out on the street after dawn and soon enough they had realized the reason behind it. Domestic electricity of houses, monuments and street lamps were cut- due of severe restrictions to cut power consumption - leaving almost all streets and alleys unlit. This naturally also included the park. The trees and high bushes along the path were only adding to maintain a feeling of dense darkness. No sound could be heard besides the noises of their footsteps in the snow and the sound of rushing water from the nearby lake.

  
Suddenly, a struck of light originating from near distance brieﬂy illuminated the night. Then darkness. Then a shock wave of such raw intensity followed that they had to fall back a few steps, their ﬂashlights ceasing to function. Now in the dark, they could hear branches and bushes violently moving, also birds loudly chirping and ﬂying away in panic.

  
„What the-“

  
„Lumos!“  


Dumbledore was holding his wand, moving it to illuminate their surroundings. His expression severe as he looked at Dodge who looked back perplexed. 

  
„Was this…“

  
„Of magical origin? Yes. We need to investigate it.“ 

  
´  
Dumbledore casted a detection spell. „Good. We are the only humans here. No muggle to worry about.“ He gave Dodge a small smile „ Under this circumstances we   
are surely allowed to break the law, don’t you think?“

  
Dodge looked at him for a moment, then grinned and took out his own wand and casted a heating charm on them both. 

  
Dumbledore was moving his wand in fast, swaying motions evoking a small glowing sphere he then sended to the location he assumed the lightening originated. 

  
„Let´s go!“ Urged Dumbledore and ran down the path, eyes on the glowing sphere in the distance. He had a dreading feeling building in his stomach. He recognized it. Raw magic that came to be when the caster was no longer in control of himself or his magic due to a strong emotional outburst. He had witnessed it numerous times. In his youth. In the war… But this now … this powerful outburst … reminded him strongly of his dear sister, Ariana.

  
After a moment they reached a point where they could see the sphere clearly, hovering near the shore across the lake.

  
„It’s across the lake. We have to run around it to reach it.“ Dodge said, remembering the way paths on the map.

  
„Not necessarily.“ Dumbledore replied thoughtfully and walked towards the shore.

  
„The ice is thigh enough. We could try this-“ He waved his wand transﬁguring the snow around his feet into ice skates. He then slowly stepped on the iced lake and, after having found his balance, moved towards to the other shore while gliding his wand simultaneity to his movements, sending small air waves to accelerate his step. 

  
„Albus, wait!“ Dodge shouted as his friend was already half across the lake, too far away to properly hear him „I don’t know how to ice skate! … Or do anything on ice really. Also, I…I think I lost my hat“ 

  
The light of the magical sphere was shining palely over grass, trees and the icy water as Dumbledore set a ﬁrm foot on muddy earth. With a quick wave of his wand the ice skates vanished and he stepped forwards, inspecting the scene. It was deadly silent. Unnaturally dark and no snow. With just the light of the sphere and his own Lumos he had a fairly good view of his immediate surroundings. He slowly inhaled, trying to calm himself as his panic grew stronger. He could not just feel the magic in the air, he could see it. Or rather, it’s visible manifestations. A ﬂoaty, fog like compound which seems to be frozen in place. Chunks of earth, grass and branches ﬂuctuating in mid air, and those were not the only things. Birds and squirrels could be seen ﬂoating over the lawn, their bodies quietly rocking as though subjected to a soft invisible wave. But their majority was lying on the ground. All unmoving. All death. His breathing became shorter and louder. He felt he could no longer contain the dread and panic. It was too overwhelming. Dead bodies. He remembered seeing so many lifeless bodies in the war. Wizards, witches, muggles. Young. Old. His wand hand trembled as he held it higher to get a better view. Did he really want to go on? Did he really want to see it again? 

  
„Albus!“ 

  
Dumbledore whirled around and saw Dodge running towards him. His rising panic now forced back by a feeling of appreciativeness for his friend and deep gratitude for his presence.

  
„ I … had to … run all the way here“ Said Dodge out of breath „How is…what did you ﬁnd out?“

  
„ Well…“ Dumbledore said, with a new sense of purpose rising „This incredibly strong outburst was of magical nature and caused by just a single entity. Probably a cursed object, enchanted explosives or a failed experiment of sorts. I haven’t found the center yet to be sure.“ 

  
„Good.“ Dodge nodded, then gave Dumbledore a concerted look „ Are you feeling well? You seem pale.“

  
„It’s nothing.“ Dumbledore avoided his glance, instead speaking with resolve „We should cast the usual set of protective incantations. Better be undisturbed here and help facilitate the Ministries workload.“ He vanished the sphere above them. 

  
„Yes, well. If you say so“ Dodge did not comment further, instead proceeding to cast the usual repelling and protecting spells. Dodges sense of tact and silent support were qualities he appreciated and valued him for ever since their school days.

Casting those familiar spells gave Dumbledore back a feeling of direction and security. It was a familiar procedure he knew since his youth. Aberforth and him used to cast them while their mother attended to Ariana after she had lost control of her magic. 

  
„Maybe you can contact the Ministry while I look for the source point.“ Said Dumbledore and turned away before Dodge could answer. Maybe he was being the protective older brother but he didn't want his sensitive friend to witness any form of vicious barbarity.   


He waved his wand. After a moment traits of fog were becoming more viscous. He followed the trail of the fog then becoming thicker and thicker. Then he could see something in the dark. A fade ﬂame. Moving closer he saw it coming from a metal like object, now completely distorted. Reaching it he kneeled down, inspecting it. As he illuminated it with the warm light of his wand small red sparks became visible, spurting out from various parts of the object. Could it be…? Was this really the cause? …No. No, it was raw magic. He was too familiar with the circumstances, the magical imprint to be mistaken. He couldn’t be wrong.  


Ariana…

  
Then he saw it. A body lying just a few feet away. His wand was illuminating the feed and legs. He could see it was lying on the side, soaked and a bit muddy.   
His panic promptly returned. He was dreading it. The moment of ﬁnding out if someone was alive or dead. Or all in between. He hesitated. Suddenly a thought came to mind. He remembered his sisters magical outbursts. She never had died from any of them. So maybe, just maybe… His hand started moving slowly and his wand now illuminating the rest of the body until reaching the face. No severe injuries as far as he could tell. With all the trepidation and fear he was feeling a thought never occurred to him. He hadn’t considered that he might actually recognize someone. So when he did, his eyes widened in silent horror and shock. It was Riddle.


End file.
